Roof Rack Towers on Express van

Hi Guys,

I have never been a fan of putting things on the roof of a vehicle. It affects your CofG, it affects your aerodynamics, it places wierd and sometimes excessive forces on connection points and it is inevitable that you will find an overhanging branch on the trail that wants to rip what ever is outside your vehicle off..

And, I have always had the luxury of having the right vehicle for the job, and not needed to load stuff on the roof.

But times and needs are changing.
I have an awning and a solar panel that must go outside the van.

So I got these ARB type H1 roof rack mounts.
On my Express the gutters have a large bead of caulking/seam sealer running down the gutter.
I'm not sure this is the way to do it.
Take a look at the pics and let me know if I got it right.
I have the mounts tightened to the point where I can reef on the cross bar and have zero movement of the mount.

Looks fine. Haven't used the ARB stuff but seems similar to how thule towers work: a foot on the inside of the gutter and a hook over the outside that you tighten up.

My tracrack towers bridge over the sealer with a little metal wedge but I wouldn't worry much since it looks like they gave you some rubber channel to put over it. If it's not moving and the cross bars line up it's probably right.

You'll love the solar and awning (did you get the ARB or fiama?) Put as much solar on as you can fit, I have two panels.

I just got 16mpg on my last the last tank but that was pretty flat driving and I've also got some bike racks on top and a lot of weight in the van. It gets about 14.5 through the hills.

Well, so far so good.
The wife has the van out camping 150 miles away and still has the awning attached to the van.

I got the Foxwing awning. Great awing but it got ripped up by a "light" gust of wind the first time we opened it.
We didn't even get a chance to get the poles and guy wires on.
Broke a hinge and bent at least two horizontal poles. I'm hoping Rhino Rack will step up up with some new parts.

The awning did come with two extra hinges luckily, and I managed to straighten the bent supports enough to get it working and able to fold back up.

WARNING - do not let go of a Foxwing awning until you have it tied to the ground if there is any wind at all. Even a light breeze.

Other than knowing how fragile it is while setting it up, it gives us about a half acre of shade.